Little Russell learned to play the piano and trumpet from the very childhood, and he made his debut on the music scene in 1955 , playing in a cover band, performing songs of Jerry Lee Lewis and Ronnie Hawkins. Also in this period, he regularly participated as a session pianist in the popular American television program «Shindig».
1962: Russell began working in the Los Angeles studio musician (sometimes arranger) with clients like Phil Spector, for example, The Ronettes, Crystals and The Righteous Brothers. Indirectly, he honed his skills playing the guitar under the direction of James Burton. In 1968, Russell, along with vocalist and guitarist Marc Benno, formed a duo Asylum Choir, which, though had a cult status, but proved a commercial failure. Formation of Mad Dogs & Englishmen appeared due to familiarity with the musician married duo Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett, accompanied Joe Cocker in the American tour.
Slide 3
Physically exhausted and nervous, Leon was forced to stop musical activities. However, almost after a year Russell returned with a successful album «Carney», which rose to the second place in the US charts 1972 and sold a million copies. «Hank Wilsons Back» appeared as successful longplay in the following year and lately was dedicated to the legendary country music performers.
Slide 4
LP «The Live Album» appeared as a result of experiments with style bluegrass concert , recorded with the band New Grass Revival. In 1984, after the publication of the plate «Hank Wilsons Volume II» Russell plunged into work on his own record company. Russell returned to the music market in 1992 with the album «Anything Will Happen», which brought disappointment. But despite this, the actor has long deserved honor and a place in the musical Olympus.
Slide 5
In November 2009, Leon Russell, Elton John and Bernie Taupin poet wrote some songs for the new joint album The Union. Studio work on it continued in the second half of January and February 2010. The album was released October 19, 2010
Slide 6
We have just found out the Leon was pretty talented, but what was his significance to the music and the whole century?
Slide 7
Mad Dogs & Englishmen was a new kind of rock tour, designed as a kind of moving commune of musicians, friends and family members “so that everyone could bring their own diversions with them, so they wouldn’t really be away from their normal lives,” Russell commented in 1970. Nearly forty members of the entourage toured the U.S. for two months. (RIAA)
Slide 8
The product (their album) that was recorded at Fillmore East (NY) was a crazy success. It reached #2, the most popular, high-listed and charted album of J. Cocker, and set the beginnig of his own solo career.
Slide 9
Beyond these highly visible roles, he’s been a notable music-business entrepreneur, having founded his own studio (Skyhill) and labels (Shelter, Paradise and Leon Russell Records). During the Seventies, Russell’s Shelter imprint released his own output, launched the careers of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, J.J. Cale, Phoebe Snow and Dwight Twilley. It was on Shelter that venerable Texas bluesman Freddie King revitalized his career. (RIAA)
Slide 10
A Song For You is one of the most famouse song of Russell. List of covers:
Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield, Whitney Houston, Willie Nelson, Christina Aguilera and Michael Buble.
